Chapter 13: Borrowing a Carriage Also Requires Paying
In his later life, Gu Ermao relied on this shameless spirit to marry a beautiful wife. It was a pity that he did not work properly and did not live a good life. He beat his wife every now and then and gambled with her. In the end, his wife ran away.
Then he continued to live a carefree life. Because everyone in the village was given a lot of land, and he was also in charge of his parents' land, when the rent of the contracted land went up, Gu Ermao rented the land for ten years at once, and lost all the hundreds of thousands of yuan in rent in one night.
In the two years before Li Long passed away, Gu Ermao lived a life of hunger and starvation. The village working group wanted to help him with poverty alleviation, but he was a hopeless case.
He died of illness in his own mud house a few years earlier than Li Long.
Looking at that face now, Li Long really hated it. He slapped his hand away and said:
"I have something important to do. I don't have time to play with you here. Get out of the way."
Gu Ermao withdrew his hands, put them into his sleeves, and said with a playful smile:
"Why are you still angry? I was just kidding! My villager Zhao Changjiang's family bought a TV. I just got the news and came here to invite you to watch it. That's TV! It's a little movie at home! You can watch whatever you want. Wu Shufen also wants to watch it, so go back and get ready!"
As he said this, he glanced at the fish in Li Long's hand.
This fish is so big and beautiful!
Every time I told Li Long where Wu Shufen was going, he would change his mind even if he didn't want to go.
Although I heard that Wu Shufen has broken up with Li Long, I think Li Long would definitely not agree, right?
I heard that Li Long caught a quack chicken last night and caught a fish today. This guy must have learned some skills after going to Wucheng. Although Gu Ermao had made up his mind to teach Li Long a lesson yesterday, thinking about Li Long's ability to catch things and eat meat, Gu Ermao decided not to break off his friendship with him.
Otherwise, where can we eat meat?
"I'm busy." Li Long waved his hand, not paying any attention to Wu Shufen's affairs. "I have something to do. If you want to see it, go and see it yourself."
After saying that, Li Long walked around Gu Ermao and went towards the home of team leader Xu Chengjun.
Gu Ermao shouted several times from behind, but Li Long pretended not to hear.
If I were to live my life over again, I wouldn't have to maintain some meaningless relationships. I was so stupid in my last life.
Xu Chengjun's home also has kerosene lamps, the same style as Li Jianguo's.
Li Long knocked on the door, and Xu Chengjun's child Xu Mingwa opened the door. Mingwa was nine years old, looked up at Li Long, turned around and shouted into the house:
"Dad, Uncle Li Qiang is here! He's carrying fish!"
Xu Chengjun was demobilized from the army and first served as a militia captain in a production team. Because he was young and strong and acted decisively, after serving as a militia captain for five years, he took over the position of captain after the old captain was dismissed.
After becoming the team leader, he acted decisively. He used the relationships with his comrades to form a sideline team. They went to the mountains to dig Fritillaria and Codonopsis pilosula and sold them to the county purchasing station. Every year, he could distribute some cash to each household in the team, so he was very popular.
"Xiao Long is here." Xu Chengjun was lying on the kang listening to the radio. In those days, a radio was considered a big item. When he heard his son say that Li Long was carrying fish, he got off the kang, stood up dragging his shoes and said with a smile:
"Just come over, why did you bring the fish? I heard you don't work in the Wucheng factory anymore?"
"Well, my ability is limited. I didn't go to school much, so my knowledge level is limited. I can't do some work, so I came back. These are the carps I caught in the small lake today. I brought two of them over for you to try."
"These fish are big!" Xu Chengjun's wife Ma Hongmei looked at the two fish and smiled widely, "It's not easy to break a hole in the ice."
"It's OK. We are young." Li Long handed the fish to Ma Hongmei and said to Xu Chengjun, "Captain, I have something to discuss with you."
"What's the matter?" Xu Chengjun put out his cigarette. Nowadays, men generally don't avoid children when smoking, and there is no such thing as the harm of secondhand smoke. "I will do everything I can for you." "Captain, you also know the situation of my family. I'm back now, and the charcoal and firewood prepared by my brother are not enough. I want to borrow the team's carriage to go to the mountain to get some firewood back."
"That won't work, will it?" Xu Chengjun shook his head. "Not to mention that the mountain is so far away, you are unfamiliar with the place and you can't find firewood. The situation in the mountain is so complicated. If you get lost and can't come back, how can I explain it to your brother?"
"Captain, I know what you mean." Li Long smiled. "One of my co-workers is from Qingshui River. We have a good relationship, and he came back with me. I will go to their home first this time, and I won't go into the mountains. I will just get some unused wood from them."
"Is that so..." Xu Chengjun thought for a moment, then said to Li Long, "If that's the case, then I won't persuade you, but let's do business as usual. We only have a few horses in our team, so if we use the horses, then we have to calculate the work points."
"How many work points?" Li Long already knew this item, so he was not surprised.
Seeing that Li Long was not surprised and did not refute, Xu Chengjun looked up to the young man. He thought that Li Long brought the fish and talked about the work points, so he would definitely refute it.
He is quite shrewd. The young man has been training in Wucheng for a few months and has matured.
"A normal person does one workday in summer and two in winter. A horse does ten times as much work as a person, which is twenty. Now, if we calculate the average wage, one workday is eight cents, so a horse is one dollar and sixty cents a day. A cart doesn't pay you for work, how do you do that?"
"Okay." Li Long took out the money on the spot.
Xu Chengjun was also not vague. After Li Long gave him the money, he wrote a note to Li Long.
"I hereby grant the loan of a horse and a carriage to Li Long of our team, Captain Xu Chengjun, dated X month X year."
"Okay, Captain, you guys should go to bed early. I'll go to the stable now and say hello to Uncle Luo in advance."
"Okay." Xu Chengjun did not keep anyone and closed the door after Li Long went out.
"Li Long has made great progress." Ma Hongmei sighed after Li Long left.
"I heard from Li Qiang that the Gua Gua chicken their family had for lunch today was also caught by his uncle." Xu Mingwa stared at the two fish, then wiped his nose with his arm, imagining the taste of the fish.
"Yeah, it looks different than before. This city is for training people." Xu Chengjun nodded, "It's just that he was fired, which is a bit pitiful."
"Never mind, this fish is good. We'll cook it tomorrow."
Li Long returned home, picked up another fish, and went to the Mahao.
The horse farm was where the production team raised horses. There were special people feeding the horses. The horses were kept here in winter and summer. The horse breeder's surname was Luo. His full name was Li Long, but I didn't know it. So I just followed the villagers and called him Lao Luo.
Lao Luo is a bit hunchbacked, in his fifties, and lives in a small house next to the stable. There is also a kang and a stove here.
Seeing the fish Li Long brought and the note from Xu Chengjun, Lao Luo smiled and promised Li Long that he would prepare the best horse for him.
When Tao Daqiang returned home excitedly, he found that there was no food left for him at home.
His heart suddenly sank.
(End of this chapter)
